This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,m...This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.展开更多
In psychology, the concept of interpretation has been namely associated to the subjectivist paradigm underpinning qualitative approaches, rather than the objectivist paradigm charactefising quantitative research. In t...In psychology, the concept of interpretation has been namely associated to the subjectivist paradigm underpinning qualitative approaches, rather than the objectivist paradigm charactefising quantitative research. In this article, we challenge this belief by showing how interpretation concerns psychology as a whole. To do this, the authors will first consider some dominant tendencies characterising the psychological field in general, such as the ＂empiricist illusion＂ and the ＂trap of scientism＂ （Vygotsky 1999）. Moreover, they will introduce the cultural perspective in psychology, pertinent to deconstruct several assumptions regarding research within the discipline. Stemming from this approach, ＂indirect methods＂ will be presented with regard to their potential to analyse psychological phenomena both qualitatively and scientifically. They will conclude by describing a set of principles that can be implemented when doing qualitative research as to ensure the quality and the adequacy of interpretation.展开更多
It is in the spirit of a ＂new family unit＂ that Dracula attempts vampire procreation in Bram Stoker＇s Dracula （2000） The themes of proper lineage and procreation juxtaposed with archaic late Victorian ideas invit...It is in the spirit of a ＂new family unit＂ that Dracula attempts vampire procreation in Bram Stoker＇s Dracula （2000） The themes of proper lineage and procreation juxtaposed with archaic late Victorian ideas invite exploration in this timeless novel. The novel is considered Gothic, yet it meets the cultural milieu of the fin de sikcle contemporary London of the 1890s. As the novel is considered fairly contemporary for its time, it is important to note that given new scientific theories such as eugenics, it is possible that Stoker was attempting to show a new kind of family unit---one that is not begot of the actual sex-act, but rather one that is propagated through the mingling of blood as a replacement for semen. There is much evidence in the novel to suggest that he not only wants to continue his family, but also that he is a true Renaissance ＂man＂ in his knowledge of other cultures, his pleasure and decadence in the finer material possessions, and his consumption of private property to continue his lineage in comfort and safety. It is clear in the novel that a brief analysis of the concepts of progeny and eugenics that the character of Dracula can be read as a ＂regular guy＂ simply trying to continue his lineage in an unforgiving and judgmental world. Dracula is violent in his preservation of his lineage, but he only does so to ensure he will not have to be a night-dweller on his own for eternity. He is a kind of demonic cupid with piercing fangs instead of angelic arrows He has to kill the human soul to obtain this obsessive dream of hearth and home展开更多
Close reading and inter-textual analysis of Borges＇ essays, fiction, and poetry suggest a poetics of visible unrealities, a fiction that calls attention to its own artifice. Borges＇s poetics of reading and dreaming ...Close reading and inter-textual analysis of Borges＇ essays, fiction, and poetry suggest a poetics of visible unrealities, a fiction that calls attention to its own artifice. Borges＇s poetics of reading and dreaming require another poetics of the work as a text that calls attention to its own artifice. In reading Borges＇ fiction, the separate roles and identities of reader, writer, and work of fiction merge and exchange roles, powers, and identities and are transformed into a single act of dreaming, which assumes cosmogonic and apocalyptic risks. In the dominant role given to the reader, the work of fiction as an object or work of art does not exist unless it is read. There is no determinate text, only a version of our own we re-write and invent every time we read the text. The author＇s reading is not a spontaneous evocation of vision, but an artifice, as artificial as the writing of the fiction. As writers and readers we are composed of texts and schemata, alphabets and artifacts, not merely mental perceptions and ideas. The reader requires a prior text to copy, translate, and recreate, and that text only exists as a fictional microcosm in so far as it is being read by a Reader who is able to actualize the revelation only imminent within it.展开更多
＂ A Lost Lady＂ is at beginning of the 20th century, a important work of creation of a famous American writer Willa Cather, through a story that a woman in a social swirl in old age gradually fall and sink, it reflec...＂ A Lost Lady＂ is at beginning of the 20th century, a important work of creation of a famous American writer Willa Cather, through a story that a woman in a social swirl in old age gradually fall and sink, it reflects the commercialization of human society and other traditional values and lifestyle impact and erosion, and the desire of mankind for a better civilization. Works use artistic symbolism to play a certain role in the development of the plot, the characters change shape and opposition figures to portray the psychological state.展开更多
With the continuous advance education reform and improvement of the quality of English teaching reform, it has become an important content to meet the needs of social development, and promote the comprehensive develop...With the continuous advance education reform and improvement of the quality of English teaching reform, it has become an important content to meet the needs of social development, and promote the comprehensive development of students＇ comprehensive quality and ability. In English teaching, learning English requires a lot of reading, and English reading effects and improve students＇ English scores are closely linked the relationship between the development of future good student. In this paper, the mental model of pragmatic reasoning and English reading give an overview of the psychological impact of the model, they were analyzed using the language to English reading brings reasoning, mental models proposed Pragmatic Inference in English reading, and it can effectively improve English reading efficiency, and promote English Reading level rise.展开更多
Referring to the questionnaire surveys and literature materials, this paper tries to discuss the causes of high school students＇ English reading barriers and its possible strategies to improve their English reading a...Referring to the questionnaire surveys and literature materials, this paper tries to discuss the causes of high school students＇ English reading barriers and its possible strategies to improve their English reading ability. This paper used a questionnaire survey to collect data with 188 grade one high school students as research subject. The result shows English reading barriers are mainly divided into two parts, language factors and non-language factors. Language factors include vocabulary barriers, grammar barriers, discourse barriers and culture background barriers. Non-language factors mainly include psychological factors, reading habits, reading interest and reading strategies. It is suggested that joint efforts from teachers and students are needed to solve the reading barriers. Teachers should help students increase vocabulary accumulation, strengthen grammar knowledge, develop their discourse comprehension skills and teach culture knowledge in class. Students need to overcome psychological factors, develop good reading habits, do a series of trainings on reading, give immediate feedbacks and sum up reading experiences.展开更多
The training of reading skill is the focal point of college English teaching. Psychological linguistics provides a new point of view for college English teaching. From the aspect of psychological linguistics theory th...The training of reading skill is the focal point of college English teaching. Psychological linguistics provides a new point of view for college English teaching. From the aspect of psychological linguistics theory this paper discusses some issues, including how to train students to complete the reading process independently, how to build the schema to achieve integrated discourse comprehension, how to choose the most appropriate reading model, in order to improve the English reading skill and provide some enlightenment for college English reading teaching.展开更多
Schema theory research has shown importance of background knowledge within a psycholinguistic model of reading. This paper gives an overview of schema theory as part of a reader-centered, psycholinguistic processing m...Schema theory research has shown importance of background knowledge within a psycholinguistic model of reading. This paper gives an overview of schema theory as part of a reader-centered, psycholinguistic processing model of EFL/ESL reading, in which we discuss how reading comprehension involves background knowledge that goes far beyond linguistic knowledge. The process of interpretation is realized by the employment of two basic modes of information processing, bottom-up and top-down processing. Then, a variety of techniques and classroom activities are suggested for accommodating this phenomenon in a reader-centered EFL/ESL reading program.展开更多
文摘This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.
文摘In psychology, the concept of interpretation has been namely associated to the subjectivist paradigm underpinning qualitative approaches, rather than the objectivist paradigm charactefising quantitative research. In this article, we challenge this belief by showing how interpretation concerns psychology as a whole. To do this, the authors will first consider some dominant tendencies characterising the psychological field in general, such as the ＂empiricist illusion＂ and the ＂trap of scientism＂ （Vygotsky 1999）. Moreover, they will introduce the cultural perspective in psychology, pertinent to deconstruct several assumptions regarding research within the discipline. Stemming from this approach, ＂indirect methods＂ will be presented with regard to their potential to analyse psychological phenomena both qualitatively and scientifically. They will conclude by describing a set of principles that can be implemented when doing qualitative research as to ensure the quality and the adequacy of interpretation.
文摘It is in the spirit of a ＂new family unit＂ that Dracula attempts vampire procreation in Bram Stoker＇s Dracula （2000） The themes of proper lineage and procreation juxtaposed with archaic late Victorian ideas invite exploration in this timeless novel. The novel is considered Gothic, yet it meets the cultural milieu of the fin de sikcle contemporary London of the 1890s. As the novel is considered fairly contemporary for its time, it is important to note that given new scientific theories such as eugenics, it is possible that Stoker was attempting to show a new kind of family unit---one that is not begot of the actual sex-act, but rather one that is propagated through the mingling of blood as a replacement for semen. There is much evidence in the novel to suggest that he not only wants to continue his family, but also that he is a true Renaissance ＂man＂ in his knowledge of other cultures, his pleasure and decadence in the finer material possessions, and his consumption of private property to continue his lineage in comfort and safety. It is clear in the novel that a brief analysis of the concepts of progeny and eugenics that the character of Dracula can be read as a ＂regular guy＂ simply trying to continue his lineage in an unforgiving and judgmental world. Dracula is violent in his preservation of his lineage, but he only does so to ensure he will not have to be a night-dweller on his own for eternity. He is a kind of demonic cupid with piercing fangs instead of angelic arrows He has to kill the human soul to obtain this obsessive dream of hearth and home
文摘Close reading and inter-textual analysis of Borges＇ essays, fiction, and poetry suggest a poetics of visible unrealities, a fiction that calls attention to its own artifice. Borges＇s poetics of reading and dreaming require another poetics of the work as a text that calls attention to its own artifice. In reading Borges＇ fiction, the separate roles and identities of reader, writer, and work of fiction merge and exchange roles, powers, and identities and are transformed into a single act of dreaming, which assumes cosmogonic and apocalyptic risks. In the dominant role given to the reader, the work of fiction as an object or work of art does not exist unless it is read. There is no determinate text, only a version of our own we re-write and invent every time we read the text. The author＇s reading is not a spontaneous evocation of vision, but an artifice, as artificial as the writing of the fiction. As writers and readers we are composed of texts and schemata, alphabets and artifacts, not merely mental perceptions and ideas. The reader requires a prior text to copy, translate, and recreate, and that text only exists as a fictional microcosm in so far as it is being read by a Reader who is able to actualize the revelation only imminent within it.
文摘＂ A Lost Lady＂ is at beginning of the 20th century, a important work of creation of a famous American writer Willa Cather, through a story that a woman in a social swirl in old age gradually fall and sink, it reflects the commercialization of human society and other traditional values and lifestyle impact and erosion, and the desire of mankind for a better civilization. Works use artistic symbolism to play a certain role in the development of the plot, the characters change shape and opposition figures to portray the psychological state.
文摘With the continuous advance education reform and improvement of the quality of English teaching reform, it has become an important content to meet the needs of social development, and promote the comprehensive development of students＇ comprehensive quality and ability. In English teaching, learning English requires a lot of reading, and English reading effects and improve students＇ English scores are closely linked the relationship between the development of future good student. In this paper, the mental model of pragmatic reasoning and English reading give an overview of the psychological impact of the model, they were analyzed using the language to English reading brings reasoning, mental models proposed Pragmatic Inference in English reading, and it can effectively improve English reading efficiency, and promote English Reading level rise.
文摘Referring to the questionnaire surveys and literature materials, this paper tries to discuss the causes of high school students＇ English reading barriers and its possible strategies to improve their English reading ability. This paper used a questionnaire survey to collect data with 188 grade one high school students as research subject. The result shows English reading barriers are mainly divided into two parts, language factors and non-language factors. Language factors include vocabulary barriers, grammar barriers, discourse barriers and culture background barriers. Non-language factors mainly include psychological factors, reading habits, reading interest and reading strategies. It is suggested that joint efforts from teachers and students are needed to solve the reading barriers. Teachers should help students increase vocabulary accumulation, strengthen grammar knowledge, develop their discourse comprehension skills and teach culture knowledge in class. Students need to overcome psychological factors, develop good reading habits, do a series of trainings on reading, give immediate feedbacks and sum up reading experiences.
文摘The training of reading skill is the focal point of college English teaching. Psychological linguistics provides a new point of view for college English teaching. From the aspect of psychological linguistics theory this paper discusses some issues, including how to train students to complete the reading process independently, how to build the schema to achieve integrated discourse comprehension, how to choose the most appropriate reading model, in order to improve the English reading skill and provide some enlightenment for college English reading teaching.
文摘Schema theory research has shown importance of background knowledge within a psycholinguistic model of reading. This paper gives an overview of schema theory as part of a reader-centered, psycholinguistic processing model of EFL/ESL reading, in which we discuss how reading comprehension involves background knowledge that goes far beyond linguistic knowledge. The process of interpretation is realized by the employment of two basic modes of information processing, bottom-up and top-down processing. Then, a variety of techniques and classroom activities are suggested for accommodating this phenomenon in a reader-centered EFL/ESL reading program.
